Originaly created as Live news and opinons from gush katif! Now focusing on curent israel and jewish affairs with a emphasis on the lubavitcher rebbe, rav kahane and gush katif!

Sunday, November 20, 2005

A tribute to a giant of men!

Nothing i say can bring rav kahane book, Most of us will never understand a drop of his greatness. A man who was raised near zev jabotinsky, And like his mentor he was scratched off as a crazy! As zev jabotinsky ran thue europe screaming "JEWS! get out of the furnaces of europe" Sadly very few listend and thye rest cgalked him up as a nut. So too as rav kahane hy'd screamd of the dangers of the arabs, No one listens......

Kahane was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1932. He came from a family that adhered to Orthodox Judaism. His father, Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Kahane, was born in Safed, Palestine in 1905 and studied in yeshivot in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Later he emigrated to America, where he served as rabbi of two congregations. Meir Kahane received rabbinical ordination from the Mir yeshiva in Brooklyn. He was fully conversant with the Talmud and Tanakh, and worked as a pulpit rabbi and teacher in the 1960s. Subsequently, he earned a degree in international law from New York University.

As a teenager he became an admirer of Zeev Jabotinsky, who was a frequent guest in his parents' home, and joined the youth wing of Revisionist Zionism called Betar. He personally led protests against Ernest Bevin the British Foreign Secretary who opposed the foundation of Israel on the grounds that Britain should side with the Arab Muslims aspirations for an independent state. Kahane also organized and launched public demonstrations in the US against the Soviet Union's policy of persecuting Zionist activists and curbing Jewish emigration to Israel. He was a central activist in the "Free Soviet (Russian) Jewry" movement and is widely credited with the release of the Russian refuseniks to Israel.

In 1971 he emigrated from the United States to Israel (known as "making aliyah" in Judaism). He quickly moved to establish the Kach Party. In 1980 Kahane stood unsuccessfully for election to the Knesset, after which he was sentenced to six months in prison for plotting to attack the Al Aqsa mosque. Upon his release, in 1984 Kahane stood again for election to the Knesset, and was finally successful. The Central Elections Committee banned him from being a candidate on charges of racism, but the Israeli High Court found that the Committee did not have the legal power to do so.It is notable that at his trial Kahane refused to accept the standard oath of office for the Knesset, insisting on adding Biblical quotations to it. In a later session, the Knesset Chairman demanded that Kahane repeat his oath, which he did.Kahane's legislation proposals centered on revoking Israeli citizenship from non-Jews, and banning Jewish-Gentile marriages or sexual relations. To his detractors, Kahane defended his positions by unapologetically citing Jewish religious doctrine regarding the Jewish marriage.As his political career lengthened Kahane was more and more shunned in the Knesset. His speeches were boycotted by Knesset members and were made to an empty parliament, except for the duty chairman. Kahane's legislation proposals (and motions of no-confidence in the Government) were all rejected by vote, until the Knesset modified its charter to outlaw legislation proposals, not requiring rejection by vote. Kahane himself called the other Knesset members "Hellenists" (in Hebrew; this is a historical term glommed from Jewish religious texts for ancient Jews who assimilated into Greek culture after Judea's occupation by Alexander the Great. Jewish religious books assert that "Hellenists" were responsible for weakening the Jewish relationship to God.) In 1987 Rabbi Kahane opened his Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea (Yeshivat Haraayon Hayehudi) in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood of Jerusalem where he would regularly give lessons. Rabbi Avraham Toledano was the Mashgiach Ruchani, and other Rabbis included Yehuda Kroizer, the Chief Rabbi of Mitzpe Yericho, and Rabbi David Bar Hayim.In 1985 the Knesset passed an amendment to Israel's Basic Law: The Knesset banned "racist" candidates from standing for election. The Committee applied it to Kahane, who appealed against the decision to the Israeli High Court. This time the Court found in favour of the Committee, declaring Kahane to be unsuitable for election. Kahane asserted that the reason for the Kach party ban was that polls showed it about to become the third largest party in Israel.

Was Kahane right?Interestingly, in an October 2004 survey commissioned by Israel's Channel 2 TV, it revealed that 58% of adults aged 18-22 support "transfer" (the expulsion of Arabs from Israel), 26.4% believe the slain Kach Party founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, was correct in his call to expel the Arabs, while one-third believe the Kach Party should be declared a legal organization once again. According to a concurrent Maariv report, a survey questioning 500 Israelis (representing a cross-section of society) revealed that 13.1% favor a national leader like Rabbi Meir Kahane (pro-Jewish, strong, and consistent).

In the prophecy of jermiah it says "And you all know that a cohen and a prophet dewelled amongst you" Like jermiah the prophet, Rav kahane was a priest as well.And like jermiah who warned of the destruction of israel, Rav kahane warned as well.Jermiah the prophet tried to warn the king but instead the king orderd jermiah killed.Rav kahane warned us and in the end he was killed. Our forefathers ignored jermiah for 40 years! Will we ignore rav kahane's call??